Day 7 - "The Practice Grape"

"The Practice Grape"

 4x4 oil on Canvas Paper
NFS

I should call this Abbey's Grape.  Why? Because while taking a workshop from Painter Abbey Ryan,

she demonstrated how to get the luminosity of a grape.  SO,  the other day I bought some grapes,

mixed  the same colors she used while remembering her tips .... and within 20 minutes or so -  Voila! 

 I thought,  WOW!  it worked!  

THEN today,  Day 7 of this 30 Paintings in 30 day's challenge,  I attempted another painting of the grape only on a hard canvas with the intention of making a more detailed version.

Must have worked on it for at least 3 hours and guess what? 

 I couldn't stop painting, it started getting overworked, muddy and of course the light kept changing.  Grrrr!  

 In the end I wiped the canvas completely clean.... and so here you go,  my first practice grape.

Day 2 "On Board Blue Mist"

"On Board Blue Mist"  6x8 oil NFS

by Renee Brennan

Day #2 of the 30 paintings in 30 day's challenge by Leslie Saeta.  

This painting of the Blue Mist Yacht built 

in 1917, used to be a commuter boat into NYC.  

On my 50th birthday, my husband rented it for a small party!

We are sailors so  normally when we go out onto 

The Chesapeake Bay,  the weather is nice and sunny. Well this

day happened to be rainy, rain, rain rain... which actually

turned out absolutely perfect!  

New Energy for the New Year

"It's A Wonderful Life" 07

 10x8 Oil NFS

Renee Brennan 

Happy New Year Everybody!

I will be starting a new challenge  called 30 paintings in 30 day's

hosted by Leslie Saeta beginning Jan 1, 2014. 

 Hopefully I will have not knocked 

myself out thinking what the heck did I get myself into,  

and have a painting posted by the 2nd and so on for 30 day's.  

Oh did I mention there are about 300 other artists also joining in, 

 so it should be like a big painting party right? 

Wish me luck.

  Yikes!

"The Day Sailor" Revisited

"The Day Sailor" Oil   20 x 16  NFS

I painted "The Day Sailor"  couple of years ago for my husband Casey.

 He loves this painting, not only because it was a painting for him, of him, and his boat,  

but of more what it represents to him.

Serenity, Calm, Stress Free and Freedom are some of the adjectives that come to mind when he or we are out there sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. 

 I call it his girlfriend.  Her name is Patriot.

 See the American Flag on the stern?  He will not leave the dock unless his colors are flying. 

 No kidding.

Where am I going with this post you say?  It is a stretch but,

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

"Reflections of a Banana Pepper"

6x8 Oil on Ray Mar Panel NFS

This is my submission for the Daily Paint Works Challenge given by Abbey Ryan a couple of weeks ago.  Here were the instructions.....Paint a reflective object from life. As you are setting up your still life, pay particular attention to your excitement about the reflections. Once you find something that catches your eye, use your painting time to make a visual inquiry about the nature of reflections."

So the objects I chose were a little glass bottle along with a banana pepper that I picked from my garden.  Instead of painting it near a window as usual, I closed the blind and used a light adjusted over the set up to eliminate moving reflections from the natural daylight.
   My visual inquiries were how cool it was that the pepper behind the glass flows into the reflections of the glass itself...see how that yellow/green creeps up the sides and then is distorted in each section of the glass?  I am so easily amused.